User:Sun jiaxi/sandbox

The Qixi Festival is a Chinese traditional festival to celebrate the romantic emotion between boys and girls which we called love. Equivalent to Valentine's Day in western culture, for Chinese people, the remarkable attraction of the Qixi was planted in everyone’s heart when they were only boys and girls. After all, like many other traditional Festivals, the Qixi Festival also comes with its origin, the legend of Niulang and Zhinu.

In the legend, Zhinu is the most loved daughter of Yudi, the ruler of heaven. She fell in love with a farmer called Niulang. They had two babies, a boy, and a girl. However, because of the differences in their background, Yudi didn’t allow her daughter to live with Niulang. To separate them, Yudi locked her daughter, and her only chance to meet Niulang is on the 7th of July lunar calendar. On that day, Niulang would bring his two children and meet with Zhinu on the Magpie Bridge. Thence, the day when Niulang meets with Zhinu at Magpie Bridge, the 7th of July in the lunar calendar, was named the Qixi.

There are several different traditions to celebrate this Festival in different areas of China. It's never simply saying 'I LOVE U' to the boyfriend or girlfriend. The most common one in China is called 'Qiqiao'. In the old-time, on the eve of Qixi, girls in new clothes ask Vega for wisdom in the courtyard, because it is said that Zhinu is the most intelligent in heaven.

In the modern era, people may change the way of celebrating the Qixi Festival, but deep down, in their mind, there is always a girl sitting under the grape rack on a summer night, counting stars and imagining if Niulang and Zhinu have finally met each other on the Magpie Bridge and watching down at her in the dark sky.